Dead or Alive
by SonicHedgehog7
Summary: After their mission to stop Eggman again, Eggman's Base blows up after a malfunction that was part of Tails' plan to defeat him. Eggman makes it out alive but everyone thinks that Sonic didn't and starts blaming him for his death. Is Sonic Dead or Alive?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Explosion

One afternoon inside Eggman's Base, everyone was on a mission to stop Eggman's plan to conquer the world. Every mission was the same unfortunately. Eggman's Base was easily located for them that was found in front of a beach with tall, pine trees surrounding the outside of the base. Sonic the Hedgehog, the world's famous hero was fighting Eggman, who was in his Eggmobile and which Sonic was actually part of a distraction for the others to stop Eggman's scheme. Sonic's best and closest friend, Miles Prower, or as everyone normally calls him Tails, was hacking into the computer system, trying to find the best solution to defeat Eggman. Everyone else was there helping Tails, like Knuckles the Echidna, guardian of the Master Emerald and lives on Angel Island, he is also Sonic's best friend. Amy Rose, she deeply loves Sonic since the day she was rescued by a robotic version of Sonic, named Metal Sonic. Rouge the Bat, she is another friend, and by friend, I mean normally she calls Sonic 'Big Blue', a nickname she gave him. Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Life Form and a rival. He and Sonic nearly look the same as well. Now he actually became a friend to Sonic and the others, with reasons unknown, but he is always stubborn. Also Blaze the Cat and Silver the Hedgehog were there. They both came from a different world. Blaze is a princess in her dimension plus guardian of the Sol Emeralds and he can use the power or Flames within her to attack. Silver is from the future, which had been destroyed before he was even born but he wishes for world peace. He had psychic powers, which he calls it, psychokinetic, which he can levitate in the air and move many objects.

"I've found it!" Tails yelled in amazement after many attempts, he had finally found what he was looking for.

"Really?" Amy asked. "You think this is going to work?"

"I think so. After analysing all of Eggman's steps into this scheme of his, we need to-"

"Just tell us without all of this scientific explanation Tails!" Shadow told Tails, yelling at him and constantly getting him to move on and to get this over and done with.

"Right, sorry Shadow." Tails apologised. "Anyway, we need to actually mess up the whole thing."

There was silence after that.

"That's it? We mess up his whole plan?" Rouge asked.

"Ah, I get it, we're malfunctioning it, right?" Knuckles asking Tails, briefly making sure that he was on the right track with this plan.

"That's right Knuckles. Are we ready to do this?" Tails asked the others. Everyone nodded after that so Tails began malfunctioning Eggman's plans. Tails had never done this before and he also didn't know what was going to happen after that. It really didn't take long for it to finish but Tails and the others hoped it was enough. Once they were finished their part of the plan, everyone then made their escape out of Eggman's Base.

Back with Sonic, he and Eggman were still fighting each other. Sonic didn't know how long it was taking for Tails and the others to finish their plan on whatever they were doing to stop this.

"What is taking them so long?" Sonic told himself.

"What do you mean Sonic?" Eggman asked him. Eggman then knew they were up to something. "You're up to something."

"So what if I am." Sonic said. Eggman was onto them and now Sonic thought this whole plan was now going to backfire or had to be cancelled. Eggman looked mad and now Sonic wanted to get out of there, not like a hero like him would do something like that. "Well, it's been fun fighting with you Eggman but I gotta run."

"Not so fast, hedgehog!" Eggman then held out a gun at Sonic and jumped out of his Eggmobile. Now Sonic didn't like what was going to happen next. Eggman then slowly walked towards Sonic. "You and your friends are up to something. Spill it!"

"Spill what?" Sonic told Eggman. He didn't even know what they were up to and now it looked like his life was going to end. "I don't even know what's going on."

"Stop telling me lies Sonic, you're up to something!" Eggman yelled. He was now furious and was going to pull the trigger on Sonic.

"I'm not lying, Eggman!" Sonic said defending himself. After all, he wasn't lying.

"Oh I think you are! I don't actually trust you with anything you say."

"Oh yeah, since when?" Sonic asked.

"Since, I… uh" Eggman then forgotten what he was going to say. Sonic had beaten him there. "That's it! No more games! This time Sonic, I will kill you right here, right now!"

Eggman was now going to pull the trigger at Sonic. Eggman had an evil grin on his face that he was finally going to get rid of him. Sonic thought this was going to be then end, with no one around to save him, there was no way out of this. He then shut his eyes tightly. All he wanted was a miracle. That miracle then came up as the computer near Eggman made a beeping sound. Eggman and Sonic looked at it and saw it malfunctioning. Eggman ran over to it and didn't like what was happening.

"What's this? It's malfunctioning!" Eggman told himself in anger. He tried fixing it but it was for some reason counting down. Sonic didn't like this either and ran over to Eggman. Sonic then also figured out this whole plan.

"What? It's malfunctioning? That's terrible." Sonic told Eggman dramatically.

"For some reason the whole base is going to blow up!" Eggman added in. All of that 'talking dramatically' got Sonic worried.

"Wait a minute that is terrible!" Then what do we do?" Sonic asked.

"Well, it had to come to this but, RUN!" Eggman answered then jumped into his Eggmobile and started escaping his base, leaving Sonic behind. Eggman knew that Sonic would make it out of there so he got out of his base just in time as the whole base then blowed up. In the sky, Eggman watched his base explode with a massive fire burst from the base. He then hoped that Sonic got out alive as well. Then all of a sudden, Eggman's Eggmobile went out of control and started crash landing to the ground.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Blaming Eggman

Out on the hill, far away from the base, Tails and the others watched the explosion that brought the whole place into flames. They didn't know how the explosion happened but they hoped it wasn't too serious. They also hoped that Sonic, and maybe Eggman, came out unharmed. Tails on the other hand, was starting to worry if it was his fault for this explosion. Everyone was astonished about how enormous the burst came out from the base, and no one could even survive something like that.

"That is one big explosion" Amy commented. Everyone else nodded at that compliment. "I wonder how it happened."

"Well its one mystery that will never be solved." Knuckles said.

"I hope Sonic's okay. No one can survive that sort of blast." Tails said worriedly while explaining. There was silence indeed after hearing that.

"I wonder if Eggman's made it out alive too." Silver wondered.

"I don't really care if Eggman made it alive or not so drop it!" Shadow explained to Silver. Shadow didn't give a damn about Eggman, but he did start to worry about Sonic and what kind of condition he was in if he made it out alive.

"You really don't really care about anything Shadow. I bet this is why you're stubborn all the time." Blaze told Shadow.

"You don't know the whole story about him Blaze." Rouge explained to Blaze.

"Hey what's that?" Knuckles asked while pointing to that direction. Everyone saw what Knuckles saw and it was moving. The shadow on the grass showed something that looked familiar and it was getting closer. Everyone got ready for whatever happens next. It looked like someone was limping in pain as it got closer. The figure was no other than Dr Eggman himself. Everyone gasped in shock as they saw him.

"Eggman what happened?" Tails asked as he was taking interest at Eggman's condition.

"My Eggmobile crashed landed on the ground after that blast." Eggman explained to them. He slowly sat on the ground as he couldn't keep balance while standing.

"I hate to ask this Eggman but, how did your base explode?" Knuckles asked, he couldn't believe he asked a sort of question like that to Eggman.

"My plans malfunctioned and somehow caused the explosion." Eggman answered. Tails couldn't believe what he heard from Eggman.

"Oh I can't believe this!" Tails yelled out. Everyone was confused of what they heard. "I knew something bad would happen when I started messing with Eggman's plans."

"Wait a minute. You guys were up to something!" Eggman yelled.

"Has Sonic made it out yet? I'm getting worried." Amy wondered. Everyone then stared at Eggman.

"What?" Eggman asked in confusion.

"Where's Sonic?" Shadow demandingly asked Eggman, who was then silent after that question. Eggman didn't focus on Sonic and how he planned on escaping. Since he got out just before the explosion, he wondered if Sonic got out alive. If he did, Sonic would've been here by now.

"I don't really know. You know Sonic could've got out of there like every other time… but…" Eggman couldn't really finish the sentence and looked at everyone, who were stunned and shocked after hearing all of this.

"Don't tell me… he didn't come out." Rouge asked in a depressed tone. Eggman didn't reply back to them.

"No! This can't be happening!" Tails yelled out. He was in tears indeed. Almost everyone was. "This is all my fault!"

"Tails don't blame yourself for all of this. I blame Eggman!" Knuckles pointed out.

"ME?"

"Yes you! We simply can't trust you with anything! You killed Sonic!" Shadow yelled with anger.

"I did not! This time I'm not lying!" Eggman said defending himself.

"I'm going home." Amy told everyone as she was too depressed for Sonic's death. Blaze decided to go with Amy so she could comfort here.

"I'm going back to my island. I don't want to deal with this." Knuckles also told everyone. He did have a job to do which was guarding the Master Emerald. Amy, Blaze and Knuckles then left. Rouge even left without letting everybody know as she was feeling down.

"Okay then. It's time to give you a taste of your own medicine!" Shadow said as he was going to make Eggman's injuries a lot worse. He was about to charge at Eggman with a punch when Tails got in his way. "Tails what are you doing?"

"It may be Eggman's fault for killing Sonic but he doesn't need any more injuries on him." Tails told Shadow. Eggman and Shadow didn't like what they were hearing. The fact that Tails was sticking up for Eggman for some reason. Shadow then obeyed and walked off. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to find Sonic. There must be a sign leading to him being alive." Shadow explained. He then walked down the hill and over to the collapsed base. Tails and Eggman watched Shadow leave.

"You're still mad at me aren't you Tails?"

"Yes I am Eggman. Sonic was my best friend and now he's gone." Tails explained to Eggman. His tears came back as he couldn't hold them in. He was feeling too depressed and heartbroken that his best friend is gone. He then saw Eggman's injuries that looked very bad. He needed medical attention and fast. Since Tails was still mad at Eggman, he had to help him in some way. Eggman was an evil scientist plus he escaped from explosions like no other but the explosion from earlier, he suffered enough. "Look Eggman. Come back to my workshop so I can help you with those injuries."

"You're… helping me?" Eggman had no reaction to what he just heard. Tails helping him? This was new to him. Without Sonic, this had become interesting for him.

"Sonic had taught me everything he knew so I know I can choose the right things. But I can't leave you here abandoned and not looked after. Just stay at my workshop until you get better." Tails explained to him. Eggman had a decision to make here. Either stay on the hill with no one to help him, or let Tails heal his injuries. He didn't know how the others would react to this but he knows that Tails would explain this to them.

"Well… since I have nothing left to do for a while, I accept your offer." Eggman answered. Tails ended up helping Eggman up and walked him back to his workshop.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Anger and Depression

It was 4:30 in the morning at Tails' Workshop and Tails was having trouble going to sleep. He was still devastated about what happened and he would never be able to change all of it. He was tossing and turning in his bed as well. He then finally chose to get up as all his mind was doing is haunting him after what happened during the mission. Tails couldn't believe that Sonic was gone, who was his best and closest friend and was also like a brother to him. He still remembered the day they first met back at Westside Island which brought their friendship together and grew every time. Tails was a loyal sidekick to Sonic and liked it a lot, but now because of his death, by Eggman, he had to go along with the rest of his life alone. He then burst into tears again. He didn't want this to happen at all. Everyone including Shadow misses their friend and now the whole world misses their loyal and brave hero. Tails was angry as well. He wanted to get revenge on Eggman but in the condition he was in, he had no choice to help him, especially when Eggman had nothing to do or use for his next plan. All he needed to do now is tell the others about Eggman plus neither of them would like the idea that Tails was looking after Eggman until he was up on his feet again, especially Knuckles and Shadow.

Hours went by which was now 10:00 in the morning and the sun was shining bright through the window. Tails was now helping Eggman recover and he would never forgive himself for making this offer up, but he did have a heart for people like Eggman and even if Sonic was around, he would still try to help out his enemies. He got a call earlier from Knuckles saying that he was going to take a break from guarding the Master Emerald and comfort Tails for the day after hearing the tragic news. Tails wasn't ready to be yelled at and hearing Knuckles get angry about Eggman being in his workshop until he recovered. Right now he was putting on fresh bandages on Eggman's arms and the rest of the places that he felt pain in. He didn't say a word to Eggman as he was still thinking of what he was going to say to Knuckles about this whole situation between them. For the first time Eggman was glad to have someone like Tails to help him, as he never had this sort of help in his life. He wanted to ask Tails something but it was the reply that he was worried about. How would he reply to whatever he was going to ask him? But he did need to thank Tails for his hospitality.

"Tails I want to thank you for helping me out when I was here overnight." Eggman kindly thanked Tails.

"Look, it's okay Eggman. I'm still devastated and angry at you about losing Sonic, but I still think some of this is my fault. I was the one who messed around with your plan but I never thought it was going to make an explosion. But it was part of my plan on that mission." Tails explained.

"But Tails it wasn't my fault this time, how would I kill Sonic with an explosion that I didn't make?" Eggman told Tails. Eggman almost succeeded in killing Sonic before he found out about the malfunction but the others still wouldn't forgive him. There was then a knock on the door which would be Knuckles. Tails was now nervous that he was going to have some explaining to do about this. Knuckles then helped himself in.

"Hey Tails. You okay this morning?" Knuckles asked softly. He saw that Tails didn't get enough sleep and had been crying still. "You look like you didn't get any sleep Tails. You're not taking this too well."

"I know. I can't stop thinking about Sonic. How are you going with this?" Tails asked Knuckles. Clearly he had an answer.

"Well I'm alright but I'm felling the same thing." He answered.

"And now you're going to get angry at me."

"What do you mean Tails?" Knuckles asked, confused until he saw Eggman. Tails was right about he was going to get mad at him and now he was furious. "Tails what is Eggman doing here?"

"See, this is what I mean. You were going to find out some time anyway." Tails told Knuckles as he was constantly raising his voice.

"Well why did you bring him here?"

"Knuckles he was in a stable condition and he couldn't move. What do you think you would do to help him?" Tails told Knuckles in a type of question.

"Clearly my answer would be to leave him there. You know what he did!"

"And I'm telling you it wasn't my fault!" Eggman yelled as he got himself into the conversation.

"You stay out of this Eggman!" Knuckles yelled back. Tails had enough of this and he didn't want to argue anymore.

"Knuckles what ever happened to you coming down here to comfort me?" Tails yelled. That got into Knuckles' mind and he was right. He came down here to look after Tails, not to argue about Eggman being here, although it was really annoying for him.

"Sorry Tails. You know what I'm like when it comes to Eggman. I just completely forgot about this." Knuckles told Tails while apologising.

"Where's my apology Knucklehead?" Eggman dramatically told Knuckles.

"Yeah I don't think I'll be doing that right now."

"Knuckles I didn't want to tell you this at all, but I had to do the right thing here. I have to make my own decisions as well." Tails explained.

"I know, and I think Sonic would've let you do this as well, if he agreed with it." Knuckles said. He had an idea. "Hey Tails, how about I take you to see the others and comfort them as well. They're still feeling depressed about this." Tails liked the idea. He can't stay in his workshop for the rest of his life as his friends needed him.

"Okay then, but what about Eggman?" Tails asked. Knuckles wasn't going to raise his voice again and plus he was still in a stable condition.

"I'm going to hate myself for saying this. Eggman will you be alright here while we're gone?"

"Go ahead. I can't move or do anything for a few days." Eggman replied.

"Okay Tails let's go."

Tails and Knuckles then headed outside Tails' Workshop then realized something.

"Knuckles where would everyone be?" Tails asked.

"Let's try Amy's House." Knuckles suggested. So Tails and Knuckles started heading over to Amy's House.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Investigation

At the demolished base, Shadow was still searching for a sign that led to Sonic being alive. It wasn't going very well for him and had just searched every layer of the base and there was nothing left. The walls were burnt and broken to small pieces around the perimeter of the base. The smoke was gone which was good. Shadow also spotted the computer that Eggman used had been smashed as well. Shadow was about to give up as he searched all night for Sonic and he wasn't around. Is he dead or is he alive Shadow wondered. He then decided to give up as there was nothing left and nowhere else to search. Shadow almost broke into tears, unusual for the Ultimate Life Form, but instead he had a single tear from his right eye. He felt pretty bad for Sonic's death like the others but would he spare his feelings with them? He had an idea by using Chaos Control to teleport back to when the incident was occurred but what was the point that they wouldn't be able to change it all over again and if they did, the explosion wound still be the cause of the whole operation. He now wondered of what he would say to Tails and the others after finding no clue on this disaster. Shadow knew he can take whatever they would do to him or to anyone else. Shadow then knew without Sonic around nothing would ever be the same again. He now became furious when Eggman came to mind.

"Oh man this is just great! I'm going to get revenge on Eggman now. But… what would happen when I do?" Shadow told himself. "Sonic if you can hear me wherever you are, give me a sign. I've searched everywhere here and found nothing. I know Eggman's responsible to your death, if you are dead. I just wish I helped you in some way." After talking out loud to himself, Shadow knew there was nothing he can do. He was now desperate for some reason about all of this. Shadow then thought he could come back and search around the demolished base tomorrow. He then went out of the base.

"Hey Shadow!" Shadow knew the voice and saw Silver come up to him.

"Silver? What are you doing here?" Shadow asked.

"I came to check on you." Silver answered. "Have any luck on finding Sonic?"

"No." That was all Shadow had to say. Silver looked at the base then back to Shadow. Silver was depressed about all of this as well. He even left just after hearing the tragic news from Eggman and didn't bother warning everyone else. When he left, Silver thought of searching for Sonic up in the sky but it was no good either. He stared at Shadow, who wasn't taking this well at all. This slightly confused Silver.

"Are you okay Shadow?" Silver asked softly.

"No." Shadow said again.

"Mind me asking, since when do you feel depressed about Sonic? You're always stubborn and angry." Silver told him. He got that part right. This time, Shadow was not 100% his usual self. He then decided to come clean and tell Silver.

"Well… since Sonic asked me to become friends instead of an arch-rival, I've been getting along with him and helped him with all of the missions. But since the incident yesterday, I've lost all of my meaning of being an Ultimate Life Form." Shadow explained to him. Silver then didn't know what to say. When he first met Shadow was when a figure like him named Mephiles the Dark gave him a mission to kill Sonic who thought was claimed to be the Iblis Trigger and Shadow saving him before he could succeed. Now since he's been hanging out with him and the others, he's understood everything about Shadow.

"Wow… I don't know what to say Shadow. I never knew you cared about Sonic. Since when does the Ultimate Life Form like you care about his enemy? I remembered you saving Sonic from me when you and I first met." Silver wondered and reminded Shadow about their first meeting. "Also, do the others know this?"

"I've only told you about this." Shadow replied. "Plus, I'm starting to feel that the others would mock me."

"What? Okay that's not the real Shadow I know there. You usually take on everything that the others do to you." Silver told him. "How about this, I'll help you out when we see them."

Shadow liked the idea. It didn't matter if Tails and Amy liked it, maybe Rouge and Blaze but it was Knuckles that was bothering his mind. He was a tough guy as well but he knew that Knuckles felt depressed about Sonic's death as well so he was right about one thing, he would take anything everyone, even someone like Knuckles would say to him. He then thought of something. Since Silver was constantly helping him out about this whole 'emotional' thing, he thought of an idea of asking Silver to help him out to find out around the base tomorrow for any signs of Sonic.

"Hey Silver. Since you're being kind and not being naïve, would you like to help me out tomorrow to search for a sign of Sonic?" He asked. Silver like the idea a lot. For the first time he was grateful of Shadow's offer. He knew where Shadow was going with this.

"I'd be happy to Shadow." Silver replied. "So whereabouts are we searching?"

"Somewhere around the base."

"So you want me to do an aerial view as well?"

"Good idea. It would help us a lot."

"I think we should start heading off to the others. They're all at Amy's House at the moment."

Shadow nodded and they both started heading off. Silver went ahead as Shadow took a final look of the day at Eggman's old, demolished base. He knew somewhere that Sonic would be around, hopefully alive. But it was just like what Eggman said, if he was alive, he would've been with everyone right now. Shadow wasn't going to give up searching for him and hoping, not his remains. Silver stopped in his tracks and saw Shadow glancing at the base.

"Shadow, you okay?" He asked.

It took a few seconds for Shadow to answer Silver's question but he did have a simple answer.

"I'm okay. Let's go." Shadow slowly replied.

Silver then walked off ahead again but this time, Shadow was walking right behind him as they both were now heading over to see the others.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: More Anger and Depression

Over at Amy's House, Amy was still crying after what happened. Blaze and Rouge tried everything to calm her down but after spending all night doing that, it never worked out. They were all tired and confused about the incident. Amy couldn't stop crying because of Sonic. She loved him so much, at a young age. She wasn't the only one who was really depressed. Blaze and Rouge were as well. They knew Sonic for a little while and they never wanted this to happen. He was only 15 years old. They would never forgive Eggman for what he done but Eggman knew he was innocent but Amy, Blaze, Rouge or the others never believed him. Everyone was now desperate for answers, especially Tails who still thinks that some of this was his fault. Amy cried harder into her pillow, which was now sticky when her face touched it. She didn't care. All she cared about was definitely Sonic. If he was still around she would hug him very hard like a teddy bear and didn't matter at all.

"Come on Amy quit the waterworks." Rouge told her, still trying to calm her down. "I don't like seeing you like this. Sonic would want you to be strong and move on."

"How can I move on when Sonic was killed by Eggman? Someday he was going to propose to me, and now it won't happen!" Amy yelled out. She calmed down a bit but tears still came rushing down her face.

"You're 12 years old and Sonic… was only 15…" Blaze said as he never finished her sentence when she started crying.

Blaze didn't know Sonic that much as she was most of the time in her dimension. When they first met, Blaze ended up in Sonic's world to retrieve the Sol Emeralds after they were stolen by Eggman. They didn't see or spend much time together as Sonic and Blaze had they own missions to deal with, Blaze retrieving the Sol Emeralds and Sonic retrieving the Chaos Emeralds. But since then, they both started to connect with each other. When Rouge first met Sonic, they never really connect to each other because they never were really at the same spot. Rouge always has her ways to collecting the Chaos Emeralds and sometimes the Master Emerald to herself but she was always there to help out Sonic. She would always call him 'Big Blue' only to annoy Amy when she starts flirting with the boys like him, Knuckles and Shadow. But now since the disaster that occurred yesterday, nothing was the same. Amy, well that's a different story. When she first met Sonic was after she was rescued by Metal Sonic and when she was, it was love at first sight for her. Amy would do anything to get Sonic to love her but it was a challenge when it comes to both of them. Many times Amy was kidnapped by Eggman so Sonic had to rescue her all the time when it happened. Everything Sonic would do to help with heroic things always seemed romantic for Amy. But now it was over. Just then the three girls heard someone knock on Amy's front door. Since they were in her room, they went downstairs to answer the door. Rouge opened the door and it was Tails and Knuckles.

"Hey guys." Rouge greeted, actually surprised to see them both here.

"Hey Rouge, Blaze and…" Before Knuckles finished, he saw Amy and didn't know what to say about how her appearance looked like." WHOA! Amy, are you okay? You looked like you didn't sleep at all."

"We all didn't sleep Knuckles. Amy's been crying all night so Rouge and I stayed up all night too so we could try and calm her down." Blaze explained to the boys. They didn't respond after that, seeing how Amy was so depressed about Sonic. "What about you two?"

"We didn't sleep much either." Tails answered. He needed to confess about him looking after Eggman again and he wasn't going to like what happens after that. When he first told Knuckles, he was in anger but slowly calmed down. But when he would tell the others the same thing, Amy would feel the rage, Shadow would be the same and who knows how Blaze, Rouge and Silver would react to this. "Where are Shadow and Silver?"

"They'll be here very soon." Rouge replied. But just when Rouge finished her sentence, Shadow and Silver walked in, helping themselves inside instead of knocking.

"Hey guys." Silver said as he and Shadow walked in.

"Silver when did you head of yesterday? You didn't tell us, and where did you go?" Blaze asked him.

"I… went for a walk. That whole incident yesterday made me feel uneasy so I went for a walk to be alone with my thoughts." Silver explained. He didn't want to say anything about the search but he thought he'd leave that to Shadow.

"And after you guys went off, I headed off too for the same reason." Shadow added in.

"Guys I have a confession to make." Tails told everyone. Knuckles knew what Tails was going to do and he didn't want everyone to turn out like he did before.

"Tails what are you doing?" Knuckles whispered to Tails.

"I have to tell them or they would find out and who knows what would happen next. Besides, you would help me out with this, right?" Tails whispered back to Knuckles. He had no choice and besides, Tails was the youngest person in the house right now. He needed all the help and respect he needs.

"Okay Tails. But whatever happens, I've got your back." He replied. Tails smiled at Knuckles after that but then hung his head, looking at the ground.

"Well what's wrong Tails?" Amy asked softly.

"Whatever I say, please don't get too mad at me." Everyone besides Knuckles nodded. He then took a deep breath, ready to let it out and get whatever happens over with. "I'm… taking care of Eggman."

"You're WHAT?" Amy yelled out. He was now full of rage, just like Tails thought she would do. "Tails how could you!"

"Eggman's the one responsible to Sonic's death. I agree with Amy." Rouge said.

"Guys he's in a stable condition and he won't be doing anything for a long time now since his base exploded." Tails explained to them. "And I still think some of this is my fault."

"Tails it wasn't your fault but it was Eggman's." Silver reminded him even though he wasn't there to hear all of that. "But this isn't a good idea to look after Eggman after what he did, even though I don't know much about him."

"You guys are worse than Knuckles when I explained it to him." Tails said. No one was agreeing with what Tails said about him taking care of Eggman, but Tails knew it was the best decision for him and he will stick by it. "Guys I don't care what you say about this but I know what's best for all of this and I make my own decisions, not you."

"He's right. I'm willing to help out anyway I can even if it's not the best idea." Knuckles told everyone." And what would Sonic say if he was here?"

"He would say this is a bad idea as well." Amy answered.

"What about you Shadow?" Blaze asked him. Shadow was very quiet and didn't react or raise his voice the whole time. He didn't like what he heard but it Tails was doing it he wouldn't get in his way. Shadow was still feeling depressed about Sonic but didn't want to tell the others just yet. He then walked out without saying anything.

"What's wrong with Shadow? We haven't heard anything come out of his mouth." Rouge asked.

"He's just having some trouble but I'll keep an eye on him." Silver explained.

"Well anyway, what Sonic would say to me he would agree with it, if I explained it to him. I don't care if you guys don't but I'm taking care of Eggman one way or another." Tails said. Everyone was silent. Would they trust Tails or still be mad and miserable? Even if Sonic was gone they had to move on and make the right decisions without him. Amy would agree with Tails but she was still filled with anger. She then settled down after thinking it over.

"I'll help you Tails. I'll do it for Sonic."

"Thanks Amy. I bet Sonic would be proud of you." Tails told her. That brightened Amy up and made her smile.

"Well if Amy agrees with it then Silver and I will help you too." Blaze added in.

"Count me in as well." Rouge said.

"Thanks guys." Tails said, excitedly.

"Hey how about we go find Shadow." Knuckles suggested.

"Good idea. Maybe we'll see what's going on with him." Rouge said.

So everyone then left Amy's House in search for Shadow.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: The truth about Shadow's feelings

Back with Shadow, he was far away from Amy's House. He couldn't take this anymore. With Sonic gone and finding out that Tails was looking after Eggman, this was definitely not normal. It was suddenly getting too emotional for him and too weird with Eggman around. There was one thing that was on his mind and that was Sonic. Without him everything won't be the same and maybe Eggman would finally take over the world, if he ever got back to his feet and claim what was rightfully his. He was anxious to find Sonic wherever he was dead or alive and make sure if Eggman actually did kill him or something else. He searched every inch of Eggman's demolished base and found nothing at all so now he needs to check the whole perimeter of the base and around the place for any sign of him. Whatever Shadow was planning on searching and finding the clues, there was nothing useful. He told himself not to give up. He needed to tell the others the truth about his feelings even though he is the Ultimate Lifeform and some of them would even mock him. Most of the time it would be Sonic doing that by calling him 'Faker' and Shadow had done the same to him. Ever since they decided to become friends, it was much calmer and less violent around, well until Eggman formulates another plan. Knuckles would get on his nerves as well some of the time. Right now it wasn't noisy for Shadow and the others, thank goodness for that, but it wasn't the same without Sonic around.

"This sucks! I wished I could've done something to prevent all of this." Shadow told himself. Tails felt guilty as well because of his plan all along was to malfunction everything, but didn't know the explosion was in place. Shadow didn't want to break down in tears because he never was the one to do that, and he never did that besides his emotional day losing Maria back on Space Colony ARK 50 years ago. He needed to tell the others about his new feelings but he didn't want them laughing at him. Silver never did which was grateful for him but the others have a different side of emotions to everyone else. Shadow wanted to get revenge on Eggman for what he did but what condition he was in now, it was punishment enough for now. The others were going to be on their way to look for him but Shadow didn't care. Suddenly Shadow heard voices of his name yelling out for him and the shadow reflecting on the hill he was on got closer. Shadow didn't turn around.

"There you are. We've been looking all over for you." Silver was the first to say.

"Is everything alright, Shadow?" Rouge asked.

"Yeah, you didn't complain when Tails explained to us about Eggman." Amy added in.

Shadow thought it was time to confess. He couldn't hide his emotions within him any longer. Silver was the first to know so now it was the others' turn.

"Guys, I have a confession to make."

"What is it?" Blaze asked.

"I'm starting to worry about you guys and right now missing Sonic so much."

"That's the stupidest confession ever!" Knuckles said while starting to crack up laughing. Everyone stared at him in anger until he stopped laughing. Shadow knew this was a mistake.

"Knuckles you're awful! So what Shadow has emotional feelings for losing Sonic but we do too and so do you!" Tails explained while yelling.

Knuckles hated seeing Tails yell at him, he never did that in his life. Knuckles was feeling guilty for not deciding to help out and for mocking Shadow. "Sorry"

"So you guys don't mind this?" Shadow asked them. His answer was pretty straight forward as most of them didn't mind, well except Knuckles who thought should have a laugh.

"Of course Shadow. We're just glad to know that you care about us and Sonic." Tails answered.

"I should've done something to prevent this. I'm sorry." Shadow told them while feeling the need to apologize.

"It wasn't your fault Shadow. It wasn't anyone's. All we need to do now is stick by each other and just keep thinking about Sonic." Rouge explained while calming him down.

Everyone then went silent. They looked at the view on the hill and saw just about everything in clear view. They saw the Green Hill Zone, Station Square, the Mystic Ruins, every zone and place they all know and love to run or walk past. While they were looking at it, they started remembering the time they had with Sonic around, watching him defeat Eggman, hanging out, meeting new friends and sometimes new allies. Each memory showed all of the incidents for example, like the time that Chaos became a monster when absorbing the Chaos Emerald's power to become Perfect Chaos and Sonic channelling the positive energy back into the emeralds to become Super Sonic. That was a great memory for Tails, Knuckles and Amy. The other four were just day dreaming their special events.

Tails then decided to break the silence when he just remembered something. "Uh oh! I've forgot about Eggman!"

"Damn! Who knows what he's doing right now!" Knuckles added as he didn't trust Eggman for whatever he was doing, even while he can't move.

"Do you want us to come with you?" Silver asked Tails.

"It's a good idea." Tails replied.

"Good because I want to yell at Eggman again." Shadow told them.

"Shadow how about keeping your anger to a minimum for the day." Rouge told him.

"Fine!"

"Should we get going now?" Blaze suggested.

Tails didn't answer as he looked at the view again but instead, he looked to the clouds, hoping Sonic was looking down if he was dead but he didn't want to believe that. Tails wanted to set things straight but without causing arguments or violence against Eggman or to anyone else. He turned back to the others.

"Yeah… let's go."

Everyone started walking back to Tails' Workshop with Tails falling behind, He was glad to see Shadow confess about him missing Sonic but it wasn't helping much for him. He wanted everything back to normal not fall into disaster. He had to move on and not feel totally guilty for what he thought he did wrong. Tails then started catching up to the others and headed over to Eggman's aid at his Workshop.


End file.
